Education

Buford Elementary fourth grader Bryce Bridges, drafted into the county spelling bee when his school’s winner got sick, won the championship Thursday and beamed at his good fortune.
“Rupture” was the word that’s taking Bryce to the regional spelling bee in Charlotte on Feb. 19.
Bryce, his school’s alternate, found out Monday that he would be competing in the bee in place of the school’s winner, who was sick.
“I was nervous,” he said after the victory. “I just don’t know how I won.”

As Kershaw Elementary students walked into the cafeteria Thursday, eyes widened, mouths fell open and laughter cascaded off the walls.
First-year Principal Kelli Farmer was duct-taped to the wall, suspended in a gray cocoon for a good cause.
“It’s hot,” said Farmer, who by the end of lunch period was covered in nine rolls of duct tape. “Your feet start going to sleep and then you just kind of hang on. We do whatever we can for our children.”

More than 300 people have given the Lancaster County School District input on naming the new Panhandle elementary school and selecting colors and a mascot.
In the online survey, which is now finished, popular names included Andrew Jackson Elementary, Catawba Elementary, Charles Duke Elementary, Creekside Elementary, Osceola Elementary, Pleasant Valley Elementary, Van Wyck Elementary and Walnut Creek Elementary.
Dr. Jonathan Phipps, LCSD superintendent, said it’s important for a community to feel like it “owns” its schools.

Nearly a dozen Lancaster County School District construction projects are starting or wrapping up during 2018.
The new elementary school in the Panhandle is scheduled to be complete by the beginning of July. Attendance zones and the school’s name will be decided during the first few school board meetings of the year.
Buford’s multipurpose building is set to be finished by May.
Lancaster High’s multipurpose building and new administrative addition will be complete in July. The entrance of the school will be moved to Woodland Drive.

Lancaster County School District is preparing for this week’s frigid weather by checking its buses early to prevent delays as students return to school Tuesday.
“The forecast calls for bitter cold with lows in the mid- teens,” said Bryan Vaughn, district safety and transportation director. “These types of low temperatures along with the long holiday break with buses not being driven have played havoc with our bus fleet in years past.”

The town of Kershaw has voted to allow homebound students in the Andrew Jackson schools attendance area to use the town hall break room for instruction.
Students who have been expelled from the schools will use the space at the back of town hall, which serves as the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office break room.
About five students will begin using the facility next semester.

T.T. Barnes was a true legend.
The no-nonsense black educator and community leader died Friday. Born in Lancaster, Barnes was 92 years old.
Barnes, who saw the best in all children, had a local reputation for getting opposing parties to talk and iron out their differences, said Lancaster County Councilwoman Charlene McGriff.
“Whenever something happened and you needed someone to bring people together, Mr. Barnes was the one who could do it. He will surely be missed,” said McGriff.

Gloria Mackey Gordon, wearing her first-day-of-school dress and penny loafers, drove her blue Chevy to pick up three friends.
It was 1966 and Gordon was a junior.
She, Ronny Lowery, and Charles and Edgar Smith were on the way to their first day at Lancaster Senior High School.
They walked into the building and got stares. Some called them names.
They were four of 15 black students in the school. The other 822 students were white.
“We all walked in and everyone just looked at us,” Gordon said.